The Girl from Everywhere release blog party: Water spirits and names

Remember this post in which I wrote about something unique comes out?So today I want to talk to you about The Girl from Everywhere and its character, Nix, but especially about her name which I found pretty amazing and beautiful. It spoke to me. It’s simply wonderful. I love this name. Actually I love everything about this book, but especially the mythology and wonderful details Heidi put in it. In general, everything in this book is perfectly balanced and calibrated. Just… ah.So there is a quote in which we get a brief explanation of name.

My name is Nix. It’s the name of water sprite from legend.

And it is in general made me interested in this water spirit. I had never heard of him. I study culturology at the university, and the myths and legends are a very important part of the learning, because they are part of the culture.So I looked up information on several websites and books, and that’s what I learned:

The Nix (Nixie plural) is the most popular term for the shapeshifting water spirits of Germanic and Nordic folklore. Often times these mythical creatures appear as humans, and are sometimes linked with such similar creatures as the Greek Sirens or the European Mermaids; however, more often than not they are closer to nymphs or sprites in both demeanor and appearance. The Nix may take different forms, but their message is one of warning of impending death by drowning. Water spirits (or deities) the Nixie cannot live happily far from water. They entice their human victims to join them through song or music, luring them into the water from which there is no escape only death.

In general, nix is a kind of a mermaid in the German culture. In different cultures we represent them different (in my (Russian) culture, we also have a similar creature but it’s called mavka). For example, in Celtic culture it’s called Kelpie and looks like a horse. (Now I want to make a post about them to be honest).

The term Nix comes from the Old High German Nichus, which became nickes or niches in Middle High German before finally becoming Nix in Modern German. The term Nicker, more than likely is a variation of both the German variations as well as the

Nordic ones: nyker in Old Norwegian, nykur in Icelandic, nok in Danish and finally, Neck in Swedish.The differences in the terms are subtle. While Nix and its variations translate simply as “water elf,” Nicker and its roots are more commonly described as “An imaginary being supposed to live in the water; a water demon, kelpie or river horse.”The differences in terms suggestions the more narrowed defined Germanic version of Nix, while the Scandinavian forms of the creature are more broad in scope.

The truth is that now I’m an even bigger fan of this. Nix was closely connected with water her whole life and despite the fact that she is not the wicked and evil but is wonderful and beautiful girl, this name really suits her and I love love love it.

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